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OSSES TO BARLEY 
OATS AND RYE 



What to Look For 

and 

Where to Find It 



Being one of a series of articles in relation to crops, their common 
diseases, and insect pests to which they are subject 




Published by 



HAIL DEPARTMENT 

Western Adjustment & Inspection Co. 
CHICAGO 



LOSSES TO 
BARLEY, OATS AND RYE 




4- T'.^^^-'^*'^^--^- 



LOSSES TO BARLEY, 
OATS AND RYE 



What to Look For 

and 

Where to Find It 



Being- one of a series of articles in relation to crops, their common 
diseases, and insect pests to which they are subject 




Published by 
HAIL DEPARTMENT 

Western Adjustment c^ Inspection Co. 
CHICAGO 



^v^^^ 



Copyrig-ht, 1919, W. E. Mariner 



ICI.A5i2634 



MAR 14 1919 

Strombergr, Allen & Co., Chicago. 
Printers 



-ovc I 



BARLEY, OATS AND RYE 

These important rotation crops — their nature 
and special characteristics. 



"Stand and they will have to 
walk around you, but if you lie 
down they will walk all over you. ' 



INTRODUCTION 

Diversification of crops was an almost nnheard-of prac- 
tice in the early farming operations of the Middle West. 
Wheat and corn were the crops most commonly raised, and 
they were sufficiently diversified to satisfy the grower of 
that period, for the wheat i)rodnced a ready revenue and the 
corn sufficed for feed — both grain and roughage — for such 
livestock as the farmer might chance to have on his land. 

At length, however, constant cropping and careless 
methods of soil preparation and of seed selection brought 
about wheat-sick conditions and robbed the soil of much of 
its old-time fertility. Haphazard corn culture did not over- 
come the weeds, and a gradual reduction of yield and a 
resultant loss of revenue made it necessary to introduce 
other crops to make farming operations profitable again. 

With the farmers strongly inclined to tlie idea of grain 
farming, and their farms already equipped with the ma- 
chinery for such operations, it was natural that barley, oats, 
and rye should next be added to the list of farm crops and 
their seeding more generally introduced. 

Barley, because of its early maturity, was a valuable 
aid in eliminating the weeds. Its feeding qualities were 
recognized, and where an excess was produced it was easily 
and readily marketed. Thus did barley establish itself, and 
the acreage devoted to this crop has been steadily increased. 

Rye, it was soon determined, could be profitably grown 
where other crojjs failed. The poorer soils were therefore 
seeded to rye. Its sturdy growth and satisfactory produc- 
tion under most adverse conditions are often most surpris- 
ing. Rye has been called the grain of poverty because it 
will i)roduce a fair crop on land too poor for other cereals 
or in a climate unada]ited to them. "It is too poor to grow 
rye," is an exi)ression often used to indicate extremely 
deficient soil. The fact, however, that rye produces well on 
poor soil does not mean that it will not thrive when sown in 
more favorable surroundings, for the better the soil the 
greater the possibility for an increased yield. 

Oats have been more generally seeded than have rye 
and barley, although, generally speaking, their moisture 



aud soil i-e(iiiirements are more exacting than those of either 
rye or barley. Oats now rank third in value among cereals, 
corn being first and wheat second. 

While the total commercial value of barley, oats and 
rye is as yet less than that of wheat alone, the benefits accru- 
ing to the farmer who grows them cannot be readily meas- 
ured in dollars and cents, for their value as rotation crops 
is immeasurable and their more general planting will result 
in g-reater returns. 



PART I 
INSECTS 

Ravages of insects are in many instances the direct 
results of man's efforts to l)rini>' large areas of the country 
from a condition of nature hastily into a high state of culti- 
vation. The destroying of hundreds of varieties of j^lant 
life growing over large areas, the replacing of these with a 
selected few, and the increasing of their productiveness to 
the greatest extent constitute agriculture itself, and though 




GRANDFATHER 

Grandfather says he never had his crops destroyed by these new fangled bugs 

and insects. 

There are a number of present day problems confronting the agriculturist that 

"Grandfather" did not have to contend with. Old ideas and methods 

do not fit in with present day farming. 

by such a practice our agriculturalists are practically feed- 
ing the civilized worhl, it is nevertheless directly contrary 
to the natural order of things. 

Insects outnumber all other forms of animal life inhab- 
iting the earth. If the entire insect population of a single 
acre of farm land could be brought together and carefully 
examined, hundreds of different kinds would be found, some 
of them doubtless new to the naturalist, the great majority 



unknown to tlie farmer, but all either directly or indirectly 
affecting the financial interests of the latter. 

A surprisingly small percentage of insects infesting the 
N'arious fields are injurious to the crops. A great many of 
them prey upon other species of insect life, and the small 
damage they cause to the grains and grasses is more than 
compensated for by their habit of devouring the really de- 
structive varieties. 

The annual recurrence of many destructive insects is 
prevented by the activities of their enemies, and these with 
unfavorable weather conditions hold the devastating at- 
tacks in check ; otherwise their yearly toll would be much 
greater. Climatic conditions, however, affect both friend 
and foe, and many outbreaks of the depredations of insects 
are doubtless due, not to conditions especially favorable to 
tlie pests, but to those fatal to their natural enemies. Un- 
hindered by these, the noxious species develop rapidly and 
in destroying numbers. 

The farmer himself knows little regarding the habits 
of any of these insects, despite the fact that he may have 
spent the greater part of his life in their midst and sus- 
tained greater or less annual loss by reason of their rav- 
ages. While the modern husbandman has greatly increased 
his information on many phases of agriculture, he has 
gained very little material knowledge of the insects, both 
heli)ful and harmful, which inhabit his lands. Indeed, the 
modern farmer who plants his grain with a drill, harvests 
it with a self-binder, and threshes it with a twentieth-cen- 
tury outfit probably knows little if any more of these insects 
than did his grandfather, who a century ago sowed his grain 
broadcast, reaped it with a cradle, and threshed it with a 
flail. Inconsistent as it may appear, few farmers have any 
acquaintance with the insects that variously destroy from 
5 to 95 per cent of their crops each year. 

Chinch Bug 

Although at times the chinch bugs are numerous and 
wreak destruction over large areas of the grain-f arming- 
regions, the appearances of this insect in numbers sufficient 
to attract attention are often separated by intervals of sev- 
eral years, and many farmers consequently do not know it 
at sight. 

10 




THE CHINCH BUG. 

1, Larva; 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, various sizes, enlarged. 
A and B. Showing bugs on stalks. 

When fully grown it is readily distinguished from 
other insects of a region by its size and form and by the 
peculiar distribution of the white on its back. If one looks 
at the insect from above, its outline appears as an elongated 

11 



oval with rather straight sides and broadly rounded ends. 
Its length is three-twentieths of an inch or a little less, and 
its breadth about a fourth as much. The head and front 
parts are black, and all the surface is minutely hairy exce])t 
that of the wings. The wing-covers, which conceal the 
abdomen, are milk-white, with a triangular black shield 
between them in front and a black blotch at about the middle 
of each side. These invasions of the white area give it 
roughly the form of the letter X, and this cross-mark of 
white on the back is the characteristic mark of the species. 
In winged specimens which have recently changed by molt- 
ing from the preceding stage, the black mentioned in the 
foregoing description is represented by a dull |)ink, the 
wing-covers, however, being wholly white, with pinkish 
veins. 

The chinch bug molts four times after hatching and 
changes its appearance materially with each molting. There 
are thus five distinguishable stages, the first three of which 
together are often called the red stage of the insect. 

In the first of the red stages the young chinch bug is 
l)ale red throughout, with a l)and of yellowish color across 
the base of the abdomen. 

In the second stage the red of the head and the breast 
changes to a dusky tint, and the abdomen becomes a bright 
vermilion, with a pale yellow band across its base and with 
faint dusky patches on its rear segments. 

In the third stage small rounded i)ads ap|)ear just back 
of the front legs, projecting backward in the place of the 
future wings. About one-half of the body is wholly black 
or dusky, and the abdomen is a dusky red with a patch of 
darker red near the middle, the light band across its base 
still remaining, although partly concealed by the wing-pads 
at its ends. 

In the fourth stage the original red color has wholly 
disappeared, the general tint varying from dusky gray 
behind to black in front, with a remnant of the pale band 
across the base of the abdomen showing behind the much- 
enlarged wing-pads. 

The egg is a very slender oval, about .03 inch in length, 
rather narrowly rounded at one end, and slightly docked or 
squared at the other. 

There is probably never a year in which the chinch bug 

12 



does not injure grass or some cereal in various parts of the 
territory it infests. It is, however, subject to extremely 
wide fluctuations in number, becoming at irregular inter- 
vals a pest of such frightful character as to appall the agri- 
culturist and reduce whole districts to temporary poverty. 
It has, indeed, modified in important ways the agriculture 
of large sections of our country, leading to the permanent 
abandonment of small grain culture in many counties and 
forcing the use of leguminous forage plants and at times 
even a substitution of orchard culture for the raising of 
grain and grass. 

There is no very definite regularity in the recurrence 
of its periods of greatest destruction. These are, however, 
clearly dependent on the periodicity of the weather, injury 
by the chinch bug reaching its maximum after several dry 
years, and being suspended by the occurrence of two or 
three wet years in succession. The chinch bug period is, 
however, less definite and tangible than the weather period, 
since not every change in the weather is followed by a nota- 
ble corresponding change in the chinch bug situation. The 
rise and the fall of a wave of chinch bug abundance occupy 
unequal periods of time, the period of annual increase being 
longer than the period of decline. Three or four or even 
five years of notable injury to crops may succeed one 
another, each worse than the x)receding, before the maxi- 
mum is reached, and then, within a year or two, hordes of 
these insects which may seem to have taken permanent 
possession of the fields and meadows over an immense dis- 
trict may disai)pear so completely that it will be difficult to 
find even a few living specimens. 

The chinch bug inflicts injury by sucking the sap from 
the plants. Being without jaws for biting, it can appro- 
priate only fluid food by piercing the tissues of its food 
])lant with the hair-like stylets of its beak and then sucking- 
out the sap from the lacerated cells. Owing to its immense 
numbers, it may so rapidly drain a strong and thrifty plant 
that this will wither and fall to the ground as if cut ot¥ at 
the root. 

The i^oints of special economic interest in the life- 
history of the chinch bug are the stage and place of its hiber- 
nation and the method of its escape from fields of wheat 
and other grains at harvest time. The bug passes the win- 

13 




14 



ter as a full-grown winged insect among the roots of infted 
grasses, under stones on grassy knolls, under leaves, sticks, 
logs, and bark, in thickets and the borders of woods, be- 
neath the rails and boards of fences, and in similar shel- 
tered situations. From these winter quarters it emerges in 
spring, the exact time varying according to the weather, 
flies freely about in every direction and to considerable dis- 
tances, settles generally in fields of small grain, the young 
growth of which affords it an abundant and attractive food, 
and deposits its eggs there on the ground about the base of 
the plant, on the roots a little under the surface, or some- 
times on the lower part of the plant above the ground. 

At harvest time the young of the new generation are in 
various stages of development, owing to the fact that the 
eggs are laid at intervals during a period of about a month. 
There are at harvest some winged bugs in the field, but the 
great majority of them are of ages varying from those just 
hatched up to the stage preceding the last molt. Forced 
out from these fields of small grain by the ripening of the 
plants and the consecjuent pressure of starvation, they enter 
fields adjoining in a continuous throng, making their migra- 
tion almost wholly on foot. They thus concentrate in over- 
whelming numbers on the plants at the borders of the newly 
entered field, draining and killing everything as they go. 

When the majority of the brood have acquired wings, 
flights of the adults occur, resulting in their dispersal 
through the field. The eggs for a second generation are 
laid most commonly in cornfields, particularly on roots of 
grasslike weeds growing among the corn. This second gen- 
eration of the year reaches the winged stage late in August 
and early in September and leaves the fields in search of 
winter quarters from the middle of the latter month to 
about the middle of October. 

It should be noted, however, that none of these move- 
ments are made simultaneously by all the chinch bugs of a 
locality. Even the migration from the winter quarters is a 
gradual one, and in some cases the chinch bugs have not all 
placed themselves for the laying of their eggs before the 
oats are sown, or even by the time the corn is planted. 
These crops are therefore likely to become somewhat in- 
fested in spring by the first generation of the year, even 

16 



though tliere may also be an abnndaiice of other plant life 
growing at the time. 

If the weather is very dry at harvest, and especially if 
drouth and the abundance of the bugs have combined to kill 
both grain and grasslike weeds by harvest time, chinch bugs 
will desert such fields almost as fast as they can get out of 
them. If, on the other hand, the grain ripens gradually and 
normally and the stubble is left with green weeds inter- 
spersed, the bugs are likely to linger for days and even for 
weeks before the harvested field is completely free of them. 

The chinch bug injures all the grasses and cereal cro|)s, 
but is strictly limited for food to plants belonging to the 
grass family and to certain wild sedges. It is most destruc- 
tive to barley, although it is likely to damage oats very 
severely. It infests the meadow and pasture grasses gen- 
erally, and may destroy them as completely as it does any 
other crop ; but owing to their perennial growth they afford 
in spring much less fresh and succulent herbage than the 
young and delicate plants of the grain fields. The chinch bug 
never injures clover, cowpeas, or any forage crop which 
would not commonly be recognized as grass ; neither does it 
injure potatoes, beans, or fruiting i^lants of any kind. 

The chinch bug is subject to the attack of various pre- 
daceous insects and vertebrate enemies. Of the former the 
ladybugs furnish a good exami)le, and of the latter certain 
birds, especially the quail, may be mentioned. But these 
enemies are insignificant so far as concerns their effects 
ui)on the numbers of the bugs, when compared with certain 
fungous or bacterial diseases to which these pests are liable. 
These diseases sweep them off by the million, and are 
usually the most potent factor in checking their outbreaks. 

Cutworm 

There are thirteen prominent s]iecies of cutworms, as 
follows: (1) the glassy cutworm, (2) the greasy cutworm; 
(3) the variegated cutworm, (4) the siK)tted cutworm, (5) 
the western striped cutworm, ((i) the clay-backed cutworm, 
(7) the bronze cutworm, (8) the W-marked cutworm, (9) 
the granulated cutworm, (10) the dark-sided cutworm, (11) 
the common striped cutworm, (12) the red-backed cutworm, 
(13) the bristly cutworm. 

As their name implies, the injury caused by their attack 

16 



consists of cutting the plants apart either just below or 
above the surface of the ground, causing in either instance 
total destruction. 

The species vary in color and size, their average length 
being about 14 inches. 

Cutworms are either single or double-brooded. Usually 



ii,^|p^ 



.'.^ 








\ 



SPECIES OP^ THE CUTWORM, MOTHS AND PUPA 

the eggs are laid in the latter i)art of the season, ordinarily 
after August 1, and hatch before cold weather, the larvae 
making their destructive attack in the latitude of central 
Kansas the following May and first half of June. They 



17 



cliange to the jnipa stage in June or early July. These dates 
vary according to the latitude, being earlier in the South 
and later in the North. 

Cutworms attack every kind of farm and garden crop, 
young trees, shrubbery, and weeds, causing a more general 
damage to plant life than injuries caused by all other in- 
sects combined. They destroy an average of 2 ])er cent of 
all cereal crops grown in this country annually. 

The Hessian Fly 

Pull up a few hills of grain and strip the outside leaves 
down to the crown. If a brownish-colored object about the 
size of a grain of flaxseed is noticed near the base of the 
leaf and in or near the main stalk, then it is infested with 
the Hessian fly. This method of identifying tlie fly may be 
followed from the latter part of October until the middle of 
March, but cannot be employed either in the early fall after 
wheat-sowing or in April and May and part of June, because 
the fly is then in the worm stage. It is in the worm stage, 
which is also known as the larva or maggot stage, that the 
insect does its damage. After the fly develops past the 
worm stage it changes to the. flaxseed stage and remains 
hidden in one place because it can neither eat nor move 
about. Furthermore, it is tough and hardy in this stage. 
It cannot be drowned, frozen, starved, or trami)led to death 
in the field. 

In the early spring the "fly" emerges from the pupa, 
which is commonly known as the flaxseed stage. This fly 
crawls out of the ground, using the straw as a ladder, and 
soon lays pinkish-colored eggs on top of the leaves near the 
sheath. Each female lays about seventy-five eggs. While 
she is heavy with eggs she will not fly far, but when her 
body is lighter she may visit and lay eggs in fields some 
distance from the place where she originates. 

In the early-sown grain the worms may be so thick as 
to kill the young plants entirely, or they may be onh^ thick 
enough to kill the main stalk. In either case the leaves turn 
yellow and die, but in the latter case a second growth 
occurs, which is composed of tillers. These have broader 
and deeper green leaves than the non-infested plants, and 
consequently look healthier, although the flaxseed may be 

18 




lit 



at the crown of the plant in the dead stalk which first came 
through the soil. 

Eye and barley are among the main foods of the 
Hessian fly. Although oats are closely allied in appearance 
to these plants, they have not been damaged and seem to 
be free from severe infestation. 

Plants are affected both directly and indirectly. They 
are directly affected because the maggots frequently take 




DAMAGE BY THE HESSIAN FLY 

Straws in this condition do not require a hailstorm to break them down; a 
light wind is all that is necessary. 

SO mucli nutriment from plants that these die. Again, plants 
are so weakened by the presence of maggots that less grain 
is produced. The grain yield is indirectly affected because 
weakened plants bend or break at the joints at harvest, and 
consequently fall over. Lodging of gi'ain always accom- 
panies injury by the Hessian fly. 

The Small Stalk Borer 

The presence of the small stalk borer in a young stalk 
of grain is very clearly indicated by the wilting, breaking- 
down and death of the top, and liy the presence of a round 
hole in the side of the stalk. It infests a great variety of 
plants. In its early stages it is of small size and finds suf- 
ficient food within the grass stem, later moving into the 
small grains. The furrow which the stalk borer makes 
within the stem runs upward from the entrance opening 
and of course, varies in size with the growth of the larva. 

20 



Sometimes in leaving a stalk it makes a new hole al)o\'e that 
by which it entered and in this way may injnre in snecession 
several dilTerent stalks and various kinds of plants. It is 
practically indifferent as to the kind of i)lants to feed upon, 
the only necessary condition being a relatively thick stem, 
soft enough to allow it to enter and feed freely within. In 
the small grains and larger grasses, like oats, barley and 
rye, it makes its presence manifest by killing or even cut- 
ting off the stem within, thus causing the head and the 




THE SMALL STALK BORER. 

whole plant above the injury to turn white and eventually 
to dry up. It is only one of several insects which produce 
this general effect but its injury may be at once distin- 
guished by the round hole which it leaves in the stem of 
the infested plant. 

It is found throughout the United States and Canada,' 
east of the Kocky Mountains. 

A more complete description of the small stalk borer 
is given in the article relative to this insect under the head- 
ing of wheat. 

Grasshoppers 

There are iive species of the grasshopper family: (1) 
the red-legged grasshopper, (2) the lesser grasshopper, (3) 
the Rocky Mountain grasshopper, (4) the olive grasshop- 
per, (5) the two-striped grasshopper. 

Although they differ in size and color, grasshoppers 
are alike in their depredations on plant life. They eat 
anything and everything that grows from the ground. 
Their preference is for the best, but when the choice plants 
are devoured others are attacked. The more numerous 
the grasshoppers, the farther down the list of plant life do 

21 



they go, even eating wild grasses and weeds when the 
supply of cereals is exhausted. 

Injury to ])lant life is similar to the damage done by 




ROCKY IVIOUNTAIN GRASSHOPPER 

the army worms. Grasshoppers devour as much of the 
plant as their appetite calls for. 

Army Worm 

The army worm hatches from eggs laid by the com- 
mon night-flying moths or "millers." They are yellowish 
brown in color, with a white speck near the middle of each 
fore-wing. They usually travel and do their injury to 
plants at night. 

Army worms are present every year and are among 
our most numerous native insects. 

Feeding ordinarily upon grasses, they prefer these 
and grasslike grains, even on their desperate marches. 
They seem to eat with almost equal relish bluegrass, tim- 
othy, wheat, oats, corn, rye, and barley, and will likewise 
readily take sorghum, Hungarian grass, millet, and flax. 
They are also fond of sweets. 

22 




THE ARMY WORM, WITH PUPAE, MOTH, AND EGG 



23 



Wheat-Head Army Worm 

This caterpillar differs from the common army worm 
especially in its pecnliar preference for the heads and seeds 
of grasses and small grains. It is often serionsly injnrions 
to these crops. 

It may be easily distinguished from the army worm, 
which it closely resembles, by its more slender form and 
larger head, by the straight dark bands on each side the 
middle of the head, and by the narrow brown and yellowish 
lines on the sides of the body. 

The life history of the wheat-head army worm is well 
defined. The species winters in the ]m]ia stage, and the 




THE WHEAT-HEAD ARMY WORM 
A, B, the worm enlarged; C, moth of the same. 

moths come ont in May, being nsnally most abnndant abont 
Uie middle of that month. Eggs are soon laid and hatch 
in three to five days. The caterpillars attain their growth 
in three or four weeks, which brings them to full size in 
July. The pupa stage is ten to fifteen days in length, moths 
emerging from late July to August and laying eggs for the 
second brood of larvae, which come out in September and 
pupate before winter sets in. 

The principal damage the wheat-head army worm does 
is to wheat, barley, oats, rye, and timothy, the leaves of 
which are eaten by the young larvae, while the older cater- 
pillars eat the heads when the grain is in the milk. 



24 



Grassworm or Fall Army Worm 

This caterpillar, occasionally very destructive, appears 
so infrequently in threatening numbers as to be virtually 
unknown at each of its appearances to ordinary observers 
of insect life. As it lives continuously in the South, its 
appearance in the northern states is due to the spring and 
early summer migration of the parent moth. 

The caterpillar is about 1^ inches in length, black and 
gray in color, with three narrow white lines the entire 
length of its back. The head is black, with a white J^-shaped 
mark on the face. The insect resembles the common 
army worm and the corn earworm both in habits and in 
appearance. From the earworm it is readily distinguished 
by its smooth skin, the skin of the former being roughly 
granulate, and from both it may be told at once by the 
white face mark, which is present in neither of the other 
species. 

Its preference for barley, oats, and rye is so strong 
that it will eat these grains out from other cultivated crops 
and weed plants, seldom if ever molesting the latter. 

The caterpillars are cannibalistic by nature, eating each 
other freely, not only when confined together, but in the 
open field when they become abundant. 

The worm's method of attack is to crawl to a spot 
midway between the ground and the top of the plant, cut 
the stalk in two, and eat downward on the stub. 

Corn-Leaf Louse 

This insect injures corn and sorghum, but prefers bar- 
ley as its chief food. 

It is about 1/100 of an inch long and half as wide, the 
body being ovate in shape. Its general color is pale green, 
with black legs. 

The insect has a short beak with which it punctures 
the leaves and stems of barley, eating the sap for food. 
These punctures become discolored, owing to a bacterial 
infection following the insect injury, causing the stems to 
decay and break over. 

The corn-leaf louse is nurtured by the common field 

25 




CORN LOUSE. 

(Greatly enlarged) 

It prefers barley to corn 

ants during the winter and is of infrequent occurrence in 
devastating nnmbers, owing probably to its many enemies 
by which it is hehl in check. 

Sod Web-Worms 

These caterpillars are about V, inches long when full 
grown, pinkish red or brown in color, and covered with 
rows of smooth dark spots, from the center of which grows 
a coarse hair. When disturbed, they make efforts to 
escape, being extremely active. 

The injury done is similar to that inflicted by cut- 
worms, but always underground. Rarely are the stems 
completely severed until the whole plant is eaten up. The 

26 



first injury is done by the caterpillar gnawing the outer 
surface beneath the ground and about the roots. Then the 
caterpillar works upward, eating a furrow lengthwise along 
the center of the stem. The leaves are also eaten, the 
lower ones first. Then the tips are eaten off, or irregular 
elongate holes are eaten through the blades. 

Sod web-worms injure the plant at night. Search must 
be made for them by day by digging around the affected 




VARIOUS STAGES OF THE WEB WORM. 

hills. The web-worms will be found just below the surface, 
each in a retreat formed by webbing together a mass of 
dirt, cylindrical in shape. 

The damage they do is generally attributed to other 
causes, as the larvae live a retired life below the surface, 
eating at night and remaining in their nests during the day, 
hence they are rarely seen. Their average toll in an in- 
fested field is about one stalk in ten, and the damage is kept 
up throughout the entire growing season. 

The Straw Worm or Joint Worm 

There are two generations of this insect annually, both 
of which are destructive. To the observer the adults look 
like shining black ants, some with, others without, wings; 
their legs are banded with yellow and they have red eyes. 
They are about ^ of an inch long, most of them being females 
and wingless. These females of the first generation deposit 
their eggs in young wheat plants when the stems of the 
plants extend but little above the surface of the ground. 

The egg is placed in or just below the wheat head, and 
the larva, or worm, works within the stem, usually causing 
a slight enlargement. When the worm is fully grown it 
will be found in the crown of the plant, having eaten out 
and totally destroyed the embryonic head, its body occupy- 

27 



ing the cavity thus formed. The larva, or worm, is of a 
very light straw color, almost white, with brown jaws. In 
May, Jnne, or July (depending on location) the larvae 
become full grown and pass at once through a short pupal 
stage. The pupae are at first the same color as the larvae, 
later changing to a jet black. 

In a few days the fully developed insect gnaws a cir- 
cular hole through the stems and makes its way out, and 




STRAWS INJURED BY STRAW WORM 

this second adult deposits its eggs, usually in the second 
joint below the head. The larvae from these eggs are the 
ones found in the plant and can be located in the straw 
always below the upper joint, generally above or below the 
second joint. 

28 



Both the AYork of tlie si)ring brood in fall rye and 
that of the summer brood in si)ring' crops are so carried 
on that the planter does not know his loss unless it amounts 
to a very large percentage of the crop, and then he may 
attribute it to some other cause. 

Generally the injury is not noticed until about harvest 
time, when the stalks often begin to break over and many 
white heads appear in the field. This condition very closely 
resembles that of Hessian tiy loss and is often confused 
therewith. 

The straw worm is closely related to the joint worm, 
and as their appearance, history, and life cycle and depre- 
dations are so nearly identical, they are usually considered 
as synonymous. 

Flea Beetles 

Of the several species of the beetle family, but one has 
been found that seriously injures small grain. This is 
known as the flea beetle. It is about one-tenth of an inch 




THE FLEA BEETLE. 

(dreatly enlarged) 

Sometimes called the corn flea beetle. The injury it does in the Middle West 
is confined largely to the small grains, although it often bears the 



name of 



'corn flea beetle." 
29 



long, oval, and plain brown. It feeds principally on grass 
and grain, but has done some serious injury to corn and has 
also damaged sugar-beets. Wheat and oats are its princi- 
pal foods. 

The species is generally distributed over the United 
States east of the Rocky Mountains, and is also reported 
from Montana, Utah, and California. The beetles do not 
eat holes in the leaves of the grain; they simply gnaw out 
the tissues from beneath, leaving the veins and upper sur- 
face untouched. The greatest damage they do is the severe 
injury to barley, the leaves of which they eat out in narrow 
channels. The larva breeds upon the roots of the plant. 
The worst injuries are done on low lands and near the win- 
ter shelters of the beetles. The beetles winter over and are 
abundant in May, when they pair. They generally lay their 
eggs by the first of July, but a new brood comes out in the 
latter part of the month, becoming abundant in August and 
continuing until the close of the season. The injury done to 
small grain is principally in early summer, shortly after the 
beetles come out of their winter quarters. 



30 



PART TWO 

DISEASES 

A crop-grower, through hick of mformation as to what 
plant diseases are, often suffers much damage from them, 
entirely unaware of the fact that his crop is affected by 
disease. For instance, smut to the extent of 15 or even 
40 per cent is sometimes entirely overlooked by an other- 
wise observant man. Even when it is called to his atten- 
tion, the average farmer is inclined to underestimate its 
ravages. His attitude of wilful disbelief in the prevalence 
of a disease prevents his taking ]n'oper action to eradicate 
or curb its activities. 

That there are many such devastating agencies at work 
in the soil, the seed, and on weeds adjacent to fields is all 
too frequently unknown or their insidious workings under- 
estimated. These agencies are identified as rust, mold, 
smut, blister, blight, scab, mildew, and soil- and seed-sick 
conditions and other forms whose workings are not so 
readily recognizable or so manifestly destroying. 

The occurrence and prevalence of disease conditions is 
remediable and can be avoided by various ''better farm- 
ing" practices which are discussed later in this article. 

Losses Due to Soil and Seed Sickness 

Fungus infestation of the soil and seed, much as wheat 
sickness, is frequently encountered in barley, oats, and rye. 

This soil-sick condition is the result of constant crop- 
ping of grains liable to attack by the various minute fungi 
that infest the plants from the roots even to the mature 
grain, by which the condition is spread to fields not before 
inoculated. These minute organisms live through the win- 
ter on the stubble, in the seed, or in stable manures ; they 
may attack the roots of the grain, causing a malformed root 
system, a tendency to re-root above ground, a lack of stool- 
ing, a deformity of the joints, or a sapping of vitality from 
the straw so that it falls over. They may become manifest 
in a yellowing or tip-burned leaf, in the lack of filling of 
the heads, or in the production of miscolored and mis- 
formed grains. Their presence is indicated by the ashy 

31 




CRINKLE-JOINT 



Crinkle-joint or break-over disease is not an insect trouble, as manj^ growers 
have believed, but a fungus infection associated with weather conditions. 

32 




THE BROWN BLADE BLIGHT OF OATS 

The early results of this infection is a yellowing extending to the tips of the leaves; 

if a day or so of hot weather follows this yellowing, the leaves will quickly 

assume a brown color which is typical of the blight and results 

in an almost total collapse of the infected leaves. 



33 



color of the straw, the blackening' of root system, and the 
generally unhealthy condition of the field, parts of which 
may "crumple over" while grain of the same day's seed- 
ing, growing adjacent, remains standing and is evidently 
in good condition. 

The infection is transmitted from field to field by wind, 
by washings of soil, and by the planting of infected seed. 
Selection and disinfection of seed and proper rotation of 
crops will lessen its effects. 

These losses most frequently resemble those caused by 
hail, and the greatest care must be taken to differentiate 
correctly between the two. 

The losses may become evident at any time and are 
often referred to by various names. A few of the most 
familiar forms are here described under the names most 
frequently applied to these better known forms of soil or 
seed sickness. 

Barley Leaf Blotch 

Barley leaf blotch is the cause of spots and ])erf orations 
in the leaves of barley, and when ])resent in (piantity on 
both leaves and stems it stunts tlie ])lant and causes a poor 
yield. It is perhaps the most frequently encountered of all 
fungous ])arasites and has been found on botli wild and 
cultivated ])lants. It api)ears in the form of ])ale-green, 
translucent s])ots on the leaves, wliich finally become ])er- 
f orations and increase in size, often to a consideral)le 
extent, and manifest the characteristics of having been 
eaten by an insect. The injury inflicted also has an a]i]iear- 
ance similar to hail damage. 

It is entirely possible that 90 per cent of the perfora- 
tions with ragged outlines so frecpiently met with on other- 
wise vigorous foliage are caused ])y this fungus. 

Red Mold 

This disease attacks the grain of oats, rye, and barley 
and various grasses and occurs in all ])arts of the United 
States. Grain attacked by this fungus is rendered useless 
for marketing. The grain affected becomes swollen, and 
orange, crimson, or dull deep-red specks form on the sur- 
face of the kernel. Sometimes the entire head is more or 
less covered with the red mass, which is quite gelatinous 
when wet. 

34 



Scab 

Scab seems to be generally distributed in America and 
is often the cause of considerable loss. Under conditions 
favorable to the disease the loss may be as high as 20 per 
cent. It api)ears only upon the heads, when these are about 
half ripe, as yellow or pink incrustations on the si)ikelets, 
on the base of the chaff, or covering the stalk. The affected 
heads ripen prematurely and turn yellow. After ripening 
of the head, the diseased parts are shrunken. The grain 
itself is hollow, shriveled, covered with thick surface spores, 
and incapable of germination. 

Only a few grains upon the head may be affected, these 
occupying any position, basal, terminal, or intermediate, or 
the whole head may be diseased. The loss occurs in injury 
to the quality of the grain and in a lessening in quantity. 

Seedlings in the field are often killed by scab, which 
is carried over in the seed, and as high as 50 per cent loss 
has been caused to sprouting grain. 

Powdery Mildew 

The usual characteristics of the fungous infection com- 
monly termed powdery mildew are exhibited by a whitish, 
flour-like coating in irregular circular spots u])on the 
leaves and other i)lant parts. In dam]) shady x>laces the 
mildew is often very injurious, although rarely over an 
extended area. There are various distinct kinds of mildew, 
the characteristics of which are indistinguishable to the eye. 
It is not believed that mildews are readily transferable 
from one j^lant to another. They are found upon barley, 
oats, and rye, often causing an ashy appearance on stalk 
and leaves, sometimes working into the plant until the stalk 
is blown over or breaks at the infected j)oint. 

Blight and Blast of Oats 

The different manifestations of fungi in oats depend 
much upon the age of the plant and the part attacked. 
Observation in the fields has shown that among seedling 
plants but few become infected by way of the roots or that 
portion of the stem which is underground. 

In plants beyond the seedling stage it is very connnon 
to find the yellowing portions following the stem and 
extending to the very tip of the leaves, sometimes affecting 

35 




OAT BLAST 

Showing the "blast" of oats resulting from the bacterial blight disease. The 

flag leaf has completely collapsed, and the lesion has passed downward, 

attacking and lilasting the heail. Sometimes the sprouting head 

is comi)letely killed before it emerges from the sheath. The 

small light spots on the lower leaf show the beginning 

of the blight. 



36 



only one side of the blade and again yellowing the middle 
or the whole of it. Jnst where these infections begin, it 
is sometimes diffienlt to tell. Often they are found begin- 
ning on the stalk, but more often they originate in the blade 
and work backward to the stem. There is no doubt, how- 
ever, that the disease at times, starts in the roots or in 
that part of the stem in contact with the soil. In older 
plants it is usual to find the whole plant showing a general 
collapse of the foliage resulting from the disease working 
into the stem from an early infection of the lower leaves. 

In many cases of this kind breaking over of the upper 
leaf tips may occur when bacteria are not present in them. 
They are, however, present in the lower leaves and lower 
stalks. The ai)])earance of the disease is characterized ])y 
a primary yellowing of the blades, which later changes to 
a mottled red and brown. This latter coloring occurs as 
the leaves are dying. This stage, in extreme cases, gives 
the field the apjiearance of having suffered a severe attack 
of red rust. 

Bacterial attack is one of the causes of blast in oats. 
The greatest loss to oats from the fungi is due to the 
injury to the blade. This causes a lowered vitality which 
induces blast. This injury results, as a rule, from primary 
infection through the sheaths and blades. A direct blasting 
of the heads is often due to the injured blades coming in 
contact with them. 

This diseased condition is worse in certain localities 
than in others and varies even in fields but little affected. 
There is almost conclusive proof that the minute organisms 
causing blight and blast bring about a condition in the soil 
which is detrimental to the growing oat plant. Such areas 
may therefore be termed '*oat sick." 

Anthracnose 

A serious disease of cereals and other grasses, chiefly 
affecting cotton, rye, and oats, was discovered within recent 
years. It is a destructive agent of very general distribution 
and is fretpiently found in many fields. It may inflict very 
serious damage. In one field it was estimated to have 
reduced the yield from 75 bushels to 25 bushels per acre, 
and it is assigned as the general cause of shriveling such 
as is often attributed to rust. The whitening and blighting 



of plants ])receding' ripeniiii*' may be credited to this iiit'ee- 
tion. U])on tlie beads the disease resembles scab, witb the 
difference that no rose-colored coating is present. lIi)on 
close examination black scales are fonnd instead, and ])arts 
of the head above the ])oint of attack die. Aside fi-oni a 
total loss to that portion of the head directly affected, the 
general decrease in vigor of the plant resnlts in shriveled, 
light grains in the balance of the head. The l)lack scales 
sometimes become so nnmerons as to canse a most n()ticeal)le 
blackening of the stalks and leaf sheaths. 

Ergot 

Ergot is widely known as a black or purplish body, 
several times larger than the seed of the affected phml, 
which displaces the grain. 

This disease is cansed ])y the attack of a fungus upon 




SPIKE OF ERGOT ON HV1-; 

the embryo while the plant is in bloom. The germ invades 
and consumes the forming grain and re])hu'es it with the 
ergot, which consists of a mass of interwoven fungus. 
Under suitable conditions the mature ergot germinates, 
each organism sending forth several clusters with club- 
shaped knobbed tops. From these 1he spores issue to infect 

.38 



susceptible plants in blossom at tlie time. For some days 
the fundus spreads from blossom to blossom by means of 
other spores, and each infected ovary results in another 

eri*'ot. 

Loss to the grain and damage to the plant are slight. 
Chief injury from ergot arises from its effect upon the 
cattle wh'icheat ergotized grain or graze ui)on l)adly infected 
grasses. The disease occurs commonly upon rye and wheat 
and upon many other species of grass, such as wheat grass, 
wild rye, blue-joint, Kentucky bluegrass, Canada bluegrass, 
red-top, timothy, and rye grass. Barley is sometnnes 
affected by ergot in the same manner as rye. 

Ergot is easily identified by the greatly enlarged and 
changed ai)i)earance of the grain, which resembles a horn 
or spur, lliis condition is thus most often called horned 
or spurred rye, and these names are more freciuently en- 
countered than is the more in-oper one of ergot. 

Loose Smut of Oats 

Under the name "smut," " l)lackheads,'^ etc., loose 
smut is known wherever oats are grown. Grain and more 
or less of the chaff are replaced by a powdery black mass 
which shatters out as it ripens, leaving later only the naked 
branches of the spikelets. i i j 4- 

Usually all the spikelets of a head and all the heads ot 
the affected plant are smutted. There is considerable dif- 
ference in the resistance offered by different A'arieties, but 
in view of the perfect protection afforded by proper treat- 
ment, this fact is of small significance. 

The damage caused by smut is usually underrated. 
One count found the oat smut to constitute from 8 to 10 
per cent of the ordinary cro]). By actual count of nearly 
11,000 heads the New York Agricultural (JoUege determined 
the average loss from smut to be 8 per cent. In some fields 
the loss was found to be as high as 20, 28, and even 30 per 
cent. The Kansas Agricultural College, counting smutted 
heads in that state, found different fields to have 8, 15, and 
18 per cent of smut, while single portions of a field showed 
as high as 39 per cent. 

The reasons for underestimation of the damage done 
by oat smut are the dwarfing of many of the affected ])lants, 
which thus are unnoticed by a casual glance over the field, 

39 



and the fact that many smutted heads remam invisible 
nnless unrolled from their enveloping leaves. 

Infection occurs only upon the very young oat plants, 
and they may be considered immune after the leaves have 




HEADS OF OATS 

A, a healthy head; B, head covered by loose smut. 

40 




COVERED SMUT 
C, smut blown off; B, smut partly inclosed; A, smut entirely inclosed. 



41 



protruded ^ inch beyond the leaf sheath. The chief infec- 
tion, therefore, comes from smnt spores which are on the 
seeds when they are planted. 

Covered Smut of Oats 

Covered smnt ditfers from the loose smnt in the less 
complete destruction of the flowers and in its less dusty 
spore-masses, which are also blacker than in loose smut. 




SMUTS OF BARLEY 

The loose smut of barley, showing the various stages in the development of a 

smutted head. 
42 



Loose Smut of Barley 

This disease was considered, up to a few years ago, to 
be insignificant. Lately it has assumed importance, and is 
now blamed for an annual loss of from 5 to 10 per cent of 




iff /\ M. Mil vIM 

III '•' - ^'1 \lf 1^ ^m 



in/ wi^' \W 





SMUTS OF BARLEY 

The loose smut of Isarley: .4, heads from a sound plant; C, a smutted plant; 
B, a partially smutted plant. 

43 



our barley crop. It is present to some extent in most fields 
of this country, though often unnoticed on account of the 
early season of its develo]mient and its absence at harvest 
time. Every spikelet of the barley head is usually affected, 
and adjacent leaves are occasionally smutted. 

The smut-masses, when they first appear, are covered 
by a white or gray membrane which soon lireaks, and the 
powdery mass of spores blows away. This character 
enables us to distinguish loose smut from the covered smut. 

The smutted plants head early, the disease reaching its 
maximum at flowering time. The wind blows the spores 
from the diseased heads to blossoms on surrounding plants, 
and the fungus, reaching these, gains a foothold. In this 
way the smut is spread over the entire field. 

The life history of this smut is similar to that of the 
loose smut of wheat. 

Covered Smut of Barley 

In the covered smut the snnit-masses occupying the 
})lace of the grains are at first coN'ered l)y a membrane 




COVERED SMUT OF BARLEY SHOWING ITS EFFECT ON KERNEL 

.4, kernels from a healthy plant. Weight 23.2 grams. B, (1) kernels from 

smutted plant. Weight 2.5 grams. (2) smut dust produced 

instead of kernels. Treatment of the seed will 

stop this waste. 

44 



composed of tlie outer husk of the barley. This membrane 
retains the spores for some time after liarvest, and when 
brolven reveals a very dark to i)nrplisli-blaek interior of 
smnt-mass. 

Rye Smut 

Rye smut is cansed by a fungus. It is variously known 
as stem smut, stalk smut, and stripe smut. All parts of 
the plant above ground may be affected. The smut api)ears 
on leaves, sheaths, or stems, first as long, narrow, parallel 




SMUTTED HEADS AND STEMS OF RYE 
45 




RYE SMUT 

Showing its effect on the plant: A, a healthy plant producing well-filled heads, 

grown from seed that was treated; B, a smutted plant one empty 

head produced; all others were destroyed by tlie smut. 

This seed was not treated. 



46 



lead-i>Tay stripes. In the earlier stage the black or brown- 
ish-black snmt dnst is nnder the sheath of the ])lant; hence 
the color. Later the covering breaks, and the dark smut- 
masses are exposed. Smutted plants are usually stunted 
and niisshai)en, seldom j^roducing normal heads. If heads 
are produced, they are almost always empty or are de- 
stroyed by the smut. As a rule, nearly every stalk of a 
plant is smutted. 

The disease usually appears about heading-time, 
although it can be detected earlier and is most conspicuous 
when the grain is ri])ening. At this time the straw and 
leaves of affected plants are often split longitudinally, and 
the plants may break over, having the same general appear- 
ance as when broken by hail. 

Smut powder, which develops on diseased parts of the 
plant, consists of countless numbers of spores (roughly 
s])eaking, the seed of the fungus), which may be distributed 
in various ways When the grain is handled in harvesting 
and in threshing operations, the spore-masses are smeared 
on the rye kernels, are blown about by the wind, or may 
fall to the ground When seed with smut spores on the 
surface is planted, or when clean seed is planted in smutted 
soil, the s])ores germinate, sending out a fungous thread 
with several branches on the tip. The branches penetrate 
the tissues of the young plant, grow in them, and again 
l)ran('li until the whole i)lant contains a network of these 
fungous threads. The parasite grows up with the rye plant 
and shortly before heading-time produces vast numbers of 
spores which give the i)lant its smutted appearance. 

Effect of Rust on Barley and Rye 

Every farmer knows what rust looks like to the naked 
eye, for it is usually so conspicuous as to attract the atten- 
tion of any careful observer. 

The most destructive variety of rust is commonly called 
the "stem rust," or "black rust," and to this species the 
greater losses are due. 

A wet spring, followed by warm, moist weather, pro- 
vides ideal conditions for the rapid growth and spread of 
rust. Frequent showers with heat between and heavy dews 
followed by intense morning heat produce a succulent 
growth of the plant, which thus becomes particularly sus- 

47 



ceptible to the entrance and rapid growth of the rust para- 
site. Those people are thus not altogether wrong who 
think that the rnst is cansed by warm, wet weather. 

Rust eats into the joints of the grain, causing entire 
fields to break over at those points. This effect is often 




RUST BREEDS ON THE BARBERRY BUSH 

Branches of the barberry bush, bearing chister cups of the black or stem rust of 

wheat. Its ehmination will lessen this enormous loss to our wheat crops. 

A, B, C, and D are the rust bearing clusters. 



erroneously claimed as hail damage, but as hail never eats 
out the joint or breaks a stalk at its normally strongest 
point, this argument of the claimant is easily overcome. 

The common barberry bush is the host plant of the rust 
spores, which may be found in clusters attached to the 

48 



stalks and leaves. The spore clusters break, and the para- 
site is then transferred by the wind to the various grains. 

Effect of Black Stem Rust on Oats 

The black stem rust on oats shows but little difference 
from the black rust of wheat. Nevertheless it is racially 
different, as is indicated by the fact that inter-inoculation 



STEM RUST 
Stems of wheat showing black chisters of spores of "stem rust" or "black rust." 

has not been adduced and that a field of one of these crops 
may be badly affected by its fungus while adjoining fields 



49 



of the other crops show no rust or indication of infection. 
More common and more injurious than the black stem 
rnst of wheat, it constitutes the most destructive oat rust, 
totally destroying thousands of acres of oats yearly. As 
with the black rust of wheat, its attacks are epidemic and 
fluctuate in destructiveness from year to year. It is usually 
more common in the northern states than in the South. 

Orange Leaf Rust 

This rust bears a very close resemblance to that of 
the same name occurring upon wheat. It is invariably pres- 
ent where rye is grown, and is particularly abundant in the 
southern states, although, notwithstanding its universal 
presence, it is not destructive. The fungus remains alive 
and continues to produce spores over winter in the leaves 
in the South, as it probably does in colder climates also. 
Undoubtedly it is in this way carried from season to sea- 
son by volunteer rye in the field. 

Barley and oats are also affected, but seldom seriously 
enough for any damage to be caused. 

Crown Rust 

Crown rust, a distinctly different species than either 
black or red rust, is found only upon oats and is in evidence 
nearly every season. In the early stages of the crown rust 
it may be readily distinguished from either the black or red 
varieties by the ring-like formations on the blades but in 
the latter stages is not so recognizable but may be differ- 
entiated from the other rusts, by the fact that it rarely is 
found upon the lower stem parts, being confined largely to 
the leaves. It appears as streaks upon and under the mem- 
brane of the leaves but rarel^v ruptures them as do the 
other varieties. 

The buckthorn is the host plant of the crown rust, 
spores of which can be found thereon in cluster cups 
attached to the leaves and stems. When the cups break the 
s]^ores are carried into the grain by the wind and if climatic 
conditions are favoral)le to their growth, very soon become 
evident over entire fields. 

The damage inflicted by the crown rust is very rarely 
more serious than are the attacks of red rust, hence severe 
loss from this cause is quite infrequently encountered. 

60 




THE COMMON BUCKTHORN 

A branch of the buckthorn, showing the cluster-cups of the crown rust. 



51 



PART III 
CONTRIBUTING CAUSES 

A decrease of yield of any crops in a given territory 
from the normal yield for that section is due to some par- 
ticular cause. If disease or insect conditions are not appar- 
ent, the reason will be found elsewhere, either in climatic 
conditions, improper seed selection, lack of soil fertility, 
improper seed bed preparation or other causes, and the most 
common of these are dealt with here. 

The Relation of Soil Selection to Losses 

The nature of the soil on which barley, oats, and rye 
are grown has an imi)ortant bearing on their tinal yield, 
and losses to those grains due to the nature of the soil are 
riiore easily confused with that of hail than are those of 
any of the other crops. 

Barley grows unevenly on very rich soil ; some of the 
straws will be heading out while others have developed only 
to the first joint. This condition is most noticeable at 
harvest time, for while ])art of the grain will be ripe and 
ready to harvest, a portion of it will still be green. 

A farmer noting the uneven growth of the grain often 
contends that hail has so retarded a x)art of it that a lack 
of uniform maturity of all heads will cause him a consider- 
able loss, not alone through lack of maturity of part of the 
grain, but because the green straws stacked or bound with 
the ripe ones will cause heating and decay before the barley 
can be threshed. 

Both contentions are incorrect, for the uneven growth 
is not due to the effects of hail, and a proper handling of 
barley in any season calls for methods which permit of 
thorough drying, such as stacking the loose barley in low, 
narrow stacks or windrows, or very loose binding and small 
open shocking of bundled grain. Not as in other grains, 
the grade and color of the berry are improved instead of 
impaired by these methods. 

Extremely heavy heads of barley often break the straw 
close to the top of the stalk much as it is broken by hail, 

52 




53 



and the natural leaning over of a barley head is even cred- 
ited to hail damage by some growers. 

A very poor soil, on the other hand, produces a weak- 
stemmed plant which is not capable of withstanding a heavy 
driving rain or a violent windstorm. The grain on such a 
field 'Vrnmples np," not nnlike the wheat-sick straws of an 
affected wheat field. 

Oats on especially rich soil are most subject to the 
etfects of rain and wind and often "lodge" in considerable 
patches. Owing to the heavy growth of foliage, the length 
of the stem, and the weight of the head, the lower part of 
the stalk, which begins to mature first, loses its strength, 
and, weakened here, the plant falls over. As this lodged 
condition is most frequently noted after a wind- or rain- 
storm, claims are often made for hail loss. The uneven 
growth noted in barlev is also occasionally found in an oat 
field. 

Rye is better adapted to poor soils than either barley 
or oats, and it is not so likely to develop their characteris- 
tics on rich lands. There is, however, a tendency for the 
rye stalk to weaken if the head becomes unusually heavy, 
but this condition is infrequently encountered. 

Seed Selection and Seed-Bed Preparation for Barley, 

Oats and Rye 

The results of improper or careless selection of seed 
are all too frequently overlooked by the farmer, or the con- 
sequent weakness of the grain or improper filling of the 
heads is charged to some other cause. Should the grain be 
damaged by a hailstorm, the natural conclusion that this is 
the cause of all the loss is too often accepted by the grower. 

Seed bed for haiiey. — Such damage to barley is often 
claimed wliere the actual loss has been caused by the poor 
seed planted. Unless care is exercised in this particular, 
a numl)er of conditions may result to the detriment of the 
growing crop. Where large, plump seeds are |)lanted, a 
stronger plant and a better yield will follow than if shrunken 
or broken grains are sown along with the larger and better 
seeds. 

Barley requires a uniform depth of seeding, and unless 
the seed bed is carefully worked down and the clods elim- 

5-1 



inated, a very irregular de])lli of ])laiitiiii>' will invariably 
make itself manifest in tlie imeven growth of grain. Such a 
condition is often confused with hail damage. If the land 
is not plowed more deeply than for the other cereals and 
the soil thoroughly worked down to eliminate air pockets 
and loose ashy surfaces, a ])0(n"er yield will almost invari- 




SELECTED GRAINS OF BARLEY, NATURAL SIZE 

ably result. Where barley follows corn, there will be large 
areas around the stalks into which air can circulate too 
freely, with a resultant loss of moisture, unless such stalks 
have been removed from the field. 

Neglect of careful seed selection and seed-bed prepara- 
tion causes various losses to the croji, such as poor stand, 
spotted growth, and uneven maturity, and exposes the 
growing plants to the ravages of disease and insect pests 
and to the detrimental effects of drought, hot winds, frosts, 
or too much moisture. 

Seed heel for oats. — Every spikelet of oats contains two 
seeds, one much larger than the other, and the grower often 
overlooks this fact when selecting seed oats. Smut clings 
to oats much more tenaciously than to other grain, and if 
the seed has not been treated for this infection, a sickly 
crop, having the appearance of hail damage, is likely to 
result. Inquiry as to whether seed has been carefully 
selected and treated may reveal the true cause for a sup- 
posed hail loss. 

As oats are quite subject to oat-sick conditions of soil, 
fungus attacks, blister, and oat blight are not infrequent. 
Treatment of seed in many cases overcomes this condition 
to a certain extent, 

Oats will grow better in a medium compact seed bed 
than where the land is firmly rolled. They are most liable 
to failure, however, on a loose ashy soil, as their moisture 

55 



re(iiiirements are greater than those of some of the other 
cereals. A deeply plowed field seeded to oats more fre- 
quently produces a failure than one where the surface is 
but lightly plowed, and very often excellent crops of oats 




^i-y^x-if^ 






<TSfc-«l< 'l' 













OATS ON CORN STALK GROUND 

Another example of poor farming. Old corn stalks left in field cause loss of 

moisture. Grain around these stalks is thereby weakened. Action 

of the wind whipping against the dead stalks causes a 

break-over resembling hail damage in these spots. 

are obtained where the soil is only disked or if the land has 
been plowed the previous season and the seed is drilled in 
without surface cultivation. 

Seed bed for rye. — A^er^' few losses caused by improper 
seed selection are reported on rye fields, regardless of the 

56 




57 




SEED BED AND SEEDING OF OATS 



The recovery of young oats after they have been hailed usually depends on 

preparation of the seed bed and methods of seeding. Fig. A illustrates 

a field being sown to oats with no preparation of the seed bed. 

Nothing is being done to conserve moisture. Fig. B 

shows a well-prepared seed bed and the 

correct method of seeding. 

58 



fact that seed selection for rye is usually given less atten- 
tion than for any other cereal. Treatment for smut and a 
casual seed grading tend to eliminate even these few losses. 
The same methods of seed-bed preparation applicable 
to winter wheat seem best for rye, and the same general 
resultant losses are apparent if those methods are not fol- 
lowed. 

Shatter Loss 

A considerable loss of grain from the head is most fre- 
quently claimed where oats are involved. There are sev- 
eral reasons for such contentions and several methods by 
which to determine the real amount of such loss. 

(3wing to a number of white chafflike streamers on the 
oat heads, the grower advances the theory that these are 
remnants of husks which once contained grains, and he 
desires to count each of these as having contained a kernel 
knocked off by hail ; then, going to the ground, he adds in 
all kernels in sight, together with the husks and the chaff 
of these which have been dislodged from the grain. Then 
he desires to add about 10 ])er cent for grain washed away 
or covered up by the soil. 

Although oats are most subject to shatter by hail, there 
is seldom anywhere near the amount of loss claimed by the 
grower, nor as great a damage as seems apparent on super- 
ficial examination or at first glance. 

Since the white streamers are not husks of the grain 
and have never contained a berry of oats, they must be 
eliminated from the controversy. 

To arrive at a comparative percentage of grain on the 
ground, a circle can be drawn and the stalks of grain inside 
counted, then grain and chatf stripped from heads outside 
the circle, and this fresh mixture scattered inside, until it 
is mutually agreed that there is as much new grain as old 
on the ground. As the i)rotecting sheath of the oats breaks 
up into several pieces of chatf, each about the size of a grain 
of oats, there is always four or five times as much apparent 
loss as has actually been sustained. Therefore it is seldom 
necessary to scatter even as much as 5 per cent of the heads 
to satisfy the grower that his actual loss is extremely light. 

An oat field is esi)ecially subject to shatter loss from 
rain and wind, and this fact must always be taken into con- 
sideration by the adjuster. 

59 



These conditions are eneonntered in barley and rye, 
especially if the grains are ovei'ri]ie, bnt are not as marked 
as in oats. 

Climatic Conditions Affecting Barley, Oats, and Rye 

As a rule these grains may be i)rotitably produced over 
a greater climatic range than any other farm products; 
hence they are not so generally affected by climatic condi- 
tions. Too much moisture will jn'oduce the familiar yellow- 
ing, or lack of moisture accompanied with hot, dry winds 
will cause a burning of the i)lants, a condition well known 
to all observers. 

Barley is subject to considerable damage by frost soon 
after it comes out of the ground, but if given a week or two 
to gain vitality is seldom affected by this condition. The 
time of sowing will probably have some effect on losses, 
especially if the planter has attempted to force in barley 
ahead of the season at which it should be sown in his par- 
ticular locality. In the spring-wheat territories where frost 
will possibly affect the barley, it is usually sown after the 
wheat has been seeded and before oats are planted. The 
arguments in favor of a later sowing of barley are in the 
majority, and a hail claim is much less likely to be reported 
where barley is sown late than where it is planted earlier. 

Oats seem to be quite hardy and will withstand many 
of the unfavorable climatic conditions that are harmful to 
other crops. Their need of moisture is great, and oats are 
therefore more frequently affected by drought than are the 
other cereals. Owing to their very rapid growth, they con- 
sume a large quantity of water, and a condition of drought 
will often be evident in an oat field before it is noted among 
the other grain. 

Rye is seldom affected by climatic conditions unless the 
unfavorable situation has prevailed for a considerable time 
and has become very apparent in other grains. Rye is 
subject to winter-killing, as is wheat. 

Wild Oats 

Wild oats are not easily confused with the cultivated 
varieties, although some growers gain a false impression 
of their true hail damage by failure to eliminate the wild 
variety from their calculation. This is especially true if 

(JO 



any (|uaiitity of the wild oats is mixed in throngliont tlie 
field, as is often the case. 

Wild oats mature sooner than tame oats, and their 
stalks are weaker and much more susceptible to hail or 
other climatic damage. The berrv is smaller and darker. 




WILD OATS 

A, spikelets of wild oats showing black twisted awns; B, glumes spread open 
showing bristles at base. 

with a somewhat different spikelet and head formation. 
Wild oats are especially prevalent in some sections of the 
Northwest, and where found in a field they are a rather 
convincing indication of improper farming methods. 

Crop Rotation 

Oats, barley, and rye were first introduced as rotation 
crops and have taken their place in all rotation schemes 
advocated by the various agricultural colleges and exten- 
sion departments. 

Barley following barley will more often result in a 

61 



failure than any other crop, and care mnst be taken that it 
is not sown on the same land in snccession. An excellent 
yield of barley one season may indnee a farmer to plant the 
same land to the crop again, and when the resnltant poor 
yield becomes evident he is likely to charge the damage to 
a hail loss. 

On the other hand, oats are less affected by lack of 
rotation, and, unless an oat-sick situation has developed, 




COMPARISON OF OATS IN FOUR-YEAR ROTATION (AT LEFT) AND 
OATS GROWN CONTINUOUSLY (AT RIGHT) 

For the first six years of cropping under these two systems, the oats in the rotation 
gave 14.95 per cent greater yield and 35.2 per cent greater income. 
The photographs, taken July 6, show wherein 
the difference lies. 

but few spurious hail claims will be encountered. When 
oat sickness is prevalent, the soil must be cleared by rota- 
tion of other crops for two or three, or even more, years 
until the land is entirely freed from the infection which has 
inoculated both the soil and the seed to such an extent that 
oat-growing is no longer profitable on a tract. 

62 



As with wheat, rye may foUow rye oftener on the same 
field than either oats or barley, but it is good farming prac- 
tice, nevertheless, to rotate according to the systems de- 
vised by the local agricultural authorities. Many serious 
hail claims are reported owing to lack of rotation, and 
incpiiry as to whether or not this essential has been followed 
may lead to conclusive information establishing the true 
cause of loss to the crop. 




COMPARISON OF 0AT8 ALTERNATED WITH CORN (AT LEFT) 
AND OATS ALTERNATED WITH WHEAT (AT RIGHT) 

For the first six years of cropping under the two systems, the oats alternated with 

corn approximated very closely the yields obtained in the four-year 

rotation, while the oats alternated with wheat failed to 

reach that yield by four bushels per acre. 



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INDEX 

Page 
No, 

Anthracnose -- .- 37 

Army Worm 22 

Army Worm, The, With Pupa, Moth and Egg _.. 23 

Barley Leaf Blotch ._ 34 

Blight and Blast of Oats - -- 35 

Brown Blade Blight of Oats (Illustration) -.... 33 

Chinch Bug ..: -.-. -- 10 

Chinch Bug (Illustration) - _....ll, 14 

Climatic Conditions Affecting Barley, Oats and Rye 60 

Common Buckthorn, The (Illustration) ^ .— 51 

Comparison of Oats Alternated with Corn (Illustration) 63 

Comparison of Oats in Four-Year Rotation (Illustration) 62 

Contributing Causes - — 52 

Corn-Leaf Louse 25 

Corn Louse (Illustration). 26 

Covered Smut (Illustration) 41 

Covered Smut of Barley --- 44 

Covered Smut of Barley, Showing its Effect on Kernel (Illus- 
tration) .- - -- 44 

Covered Smut ot Oats... 42 

Crinkle-Joint (Illustration) — 32 

Crop Rotation 61 

Crown Rust -. — 50 

Cutworm 16 

Cutworm, Moths and Pupa, Species of (Illustration) 17 

Diseases 31 

Effect of Black Stem Rust on Oats 49 

Effect of Rust on Barley and Rye .-. 47 

Ergot ..; 38 

Ergot on R\e, Spike of (Illustration) _ 38 

Flea Beetle - 29 

Flea Beetle (Illustration)... - 29 

Frontispiece... -- - 2 

Grasshoppers... 21 

Grassworm or Fall Army Worm - 25 

Heads of Oats (Illustration).... 40 

Hessian Fly, Damage (Illustration) .— - 20 

Hessian Fly, Life of (Illustration)... 19 

Hessian Fly, The 18 

Index...., - - 66,67 

Insects.. 9 

Introduction — -- 7 

Loose Smut of Barley -- 43 

Loose Smut of Oats - 39 

Losses Due to Soil and Seed Sickness 31 



INDEX— Continued 

Page 
No. 

0;it Blast (Illustration) _. 36 

Oats on Corn iStalk Ground (Illustration) 56 

Orange Leaf Rust 50 

Powdery Mildew 35 

Red Mold 34 

Relation of Soil Selection to Losses... 52 

Rocky Mountain Grasshopper (Illustration) --... 22 

Rust Breeds on the Barberry Bush (Illustration) 48 

Rye Smut ...: 45 

Rye Smut (Illustration) 46 

Scab —.".- 35 

Seed Bed and Seeding of Oats (Illustration).... 58 

Seed Selection and Seed Bed Preparation for Barley, Oats and 

Rye 54 

Selected Grains of Barley (Illustration) 55 

Shatter Loss.... 59 

Small Stalk Borer - 20 

Small Stalk Borer (Illustration) 21 

Smuts of Barley (Illustration) 42,43 

Smutted Heads iind Stems of Rye (Illustration) 45 

Sod Web-Worm..... ..- 26 

Stem Rust (Illustration) 49 

Straw Worm or Joint Worm 27 

Straws Injured by Straw Worm (Illustration). ..— 28 

Summary ot Losses to Barle_\, Oats and Rye : 04,65 

Treating Seed Oats for Smut (Illustration) 57 

Uneven Growth of Grain (Illustration) 53 

Various Stages of the Web-Worni (Illustration).. 27 

Wheat Head Army Worm 24 

Wheat Head Arm\ Worm (Illustration) 24 

Wild Oats -.. ..-..- .-.- -- 60 

Wild Oats (Illustration) - 61 



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